Brooke Shields Hates to Think Her Family is Done Growing

The rumors have been swirling since Brooke Shields talked openly with Extra about the possibility of adding to her family through adoption and now the actress says it is still a viable option! At an award ceremony — where Brooke was an honoree — held by the National Breast Cancer Coalition, the 43-year-old spoke with ET about the speculated reports that she will be adopting a baby, laughing that "I say something and people are running with it."

In reality, Brooke shares that her thoughts on adoption stem from her getting older and being "clinically aware that it gets harder and harder" to conceive, more so for the Lipstick Jungle star who has "already had [fertility] problems" in the past. Admitting that she would be "very sad to think that my family was over right now," Brooke goes on to share her plans for any future additions to her brood.

"I said I would be very open to it and if we got to that point, we would be really blessed if we could do that. And we would do it in America."

It’s great that kids who wouldn’t otherwise have a family, get the opportunity through adoption. I just really really hope that adoption hasn’t become “trendy,” and all adopted kids are as happy, loved, and well-adjusted as kids raised by their bio families.

I’m adopted, I don’t think it was because it was trendy, but I do have “issues” that stem from being adopted. So I think about all other adoptees.

I know, anyone can have “issues” about anything, and other adopted people I’ve spoken with don’t feel the same way I do. But, since I feel this way, I wonder if anyone else does. However, I don’t want anyone else to have to go through it.

The title of this post is very misleading and made me think she was getting divorced

eva
on November 16th, 2008

Nona, thank you for your honesty and openness am an adoptive mom and sometimes I too fear that adoption is being spoken about as something “trendy” when in reality it is a process that never ends for the biological family, the adoptive family and the adoptee.

Brooke Shield’s comment seems very sincere and loving in my opinion.

I try to offer support and honesty to any person who thinks about adoption, either adopting a child or giving a child for adoption.One thing that is important, I think, is to speak with older adoptees and listen to how they’ve handle their place in their family (or families) and what unique challenges arise as they grow older.

Being someone’s parent and someone’s child is a complicated role anyway, families merge and converge in such different ways that thinking about it is overwhelming sometimes.With adoption an extra set of issues come up and prospective parents should (ideally)have a slight idea of what those are before starting the adoption process.

I have no words to describe how much I love my little girl. She’s such a treasure but finding and keeping my treasure has been hard, tearful and exhausting, and times like those are likely to return as she becomes a young woman and begins to build her identity and understand her place in this world. I fear the days to come when she notices that our skin colours do not always go hand in hand with our love for each other, or our first hormone war when she might say to me “my birth mother would be so much better than you”. I would move mountains and oceans for her but boy would it be hard!

Shelby
on November 16th, 2008

I have no experience with adoption, so maybe I don’t know what I’m talking about. But, I wonder if maybe it’s not so much “trendy” as it’s become more well-known and spoken about more openly, so more people are thinking of it as a viable option. I hope that’s the case

Kate
on November 16th, 2008

Good luck adopting domestically! The wait time only several years.

SY
on November 16th, 2008

I think it’s great that they are considering adoption, especially domestic. I just found Brooke’s comment “very sad to think my family is over right now” to be odd…her family growing might be over, but just because her kids are growing up doesn’t mean it’s less exciting, challenging or fun.

Sydney
on November 17th, 2008

I interpreted her comment as she would be sad to think of her family is over, as she wouldn’t like to say she would have any more children or add her brood in any way through pregnancy or adoption. I interpreted it as her saying that she has loved having Rowan and Grier so much that she would be reluctant to say she would never have any more, not that she wasn’t looking forward to them growing up. Maybe that wasn’t what she meant, but that’s how I read it anyway.

Linda
on November 17th, 2008

I wish celebrities would comment on adoption when they have actually adopted a child. A tad too much celebrities these days talk about how they want to adopt yet they never do.

i think that brooke just meant that she would like to expand her family, nothing negative about that. there are people who have a certain vision of what they want their family to look like. in terms of adoption being trendy, i think thats ridiculous. for the average person, meaning not a celebrity (as much as they say it’s not true, i honestly believe that their process is much shorter than the average joe) adoption is a very long and gruelling process, involving tons of money, time, interviews, paperwork, travel. it can take YEARS to fulfill this dream. maybe for celebrities it’s trendy, you know, pay up and you get a kid (for example, how did brad and angelina adopt so close after they had a baby, i think thats a big no-no) but for others it is litterally a dream that you must climb mountains and clouds to fulfill. whatever it is, i hope brooke gets her wish.

CTBmom
on November 17th, 2008

While I don’t think that anybody should go into adoption, without really thinking it through, I think sometimes you can make a bigger issue out of adoption than necessary. From the time my son was a baby, I would occasionally tell him the story of how we became a family. So it has always just been a fact of life for him. He sees his birthmother 3 or 4 times a year and he knows who she is and they have a comfortable, loving relationship. Our son knows that we are his parents, we love him and we make the decisions for him, just like all parents do. While he has on one occasion (when he was angry with us for not doing his homework for him), said that we weren’t his “real” parents….we didn’t make an issue of it, and calmly but firmly replied that while yes, we may have adopted him, we are his parents…period. We decided a long time ago, that we would not take any comments from him, regarding him being adopted, personally…as all kids have buttons they can push and he just happens to have the “adoption” button.

Erica
on November 17th, 2008

CTBmom, it sounds like you and your family have a wonderfully healthy outlook on adoption. I hope I will have that kind of open relationship with my future child and his/her birthmom.

eva
on November 17th, 2008

CTBmom, I am going to borrow advice for you and not take the “not real parent” issue personally when it comes.I’m a big cry-baby and that’s why I’m a bit scared in silly anticipation for something that hasn’t occured.Our situation is different,K was adopted as an older girl and though I would love to have a relation with her birthmom for her sake,at the moment it is not possible.She knows she’s adopted because she remembers every step of the way towards the finalization, she brags about her day in court in school.I agree that for infants welcomed through open adoption things seem to flow with naturality and adoption is a healthy part of their lives. Much luck to you and your family.

jennifer
on November 18th, 2008

eva, I think every teenager and young adult goes through those growing pains and we all say things we don’t mean just to get our parents’ goat. not trying to make light of your concerns, but when I think about the things I screamed at my mother in my teenage years…good grief! :-) (And I am not adopted!)

My husband is adopted and a good friend of mine placed her son for adoption when we were in college, so this is a topic that interests me. bottom line i think adoption is a beautiful thing, but people just have to be open about their fears and feelings.

tamara- Angelina recently said that you can’t begin the adoption process until any new kids are six months old, so it sounds like they DO follow the requirments.

I am a bit puzzled about the Pax thing, considering if they didn’t start the adoption process until Shi was six months old, they were able to adopt Pax in just four months, and Angie has said it took close to a year to complete the adoption.

My guess is that maybe the “wait until six months” thing isn’t a requirment in Vietnam. Maybe Angie was referring to the country they are looking at adopting from next?